Boatskipper

Bangor Packet

2012-01-23T20:35:00.000-08:00

"Give her a hoot on the horn, Bert!"

UnUnited States

2012-01-19T10:00:00.000-08:00

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-29/real-u-s-map-a-country-of-regions-part-1-commentary-by-colin-woodard.html

Informative article about the regional attitudes of Americans.

Theocracy

2012-01-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

I fear the election of one of the present candidates for the Republican nomination for president will bring us a presidental advisory cabal composed of evangelicals who will direct a Republican president and congress to impose their radical morality on the American public. Think Taliban, or Supreme Council of Ayatollahs. Choose, the Bill of Rights vs. a Theocracy.

2011-12-09T15:52:00.000-08:00

Walloping Window Blind

Paying for Placebo part 2

2011-10-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

Carl Marci, assistant professor of psychiatry at MGH, is reported to have studied the placebo effect since his days as a medical student. “During a course on alternative therapies, he was struck by the amount of time these practitioners of homeopathy, Reiki and acupuncture spent with their patients. Data showed that, with the exception of intense psychotherapy, people were spending far more time with alternative practitioners than they were with other health practitioners.” The article states: ”He began to suspect that the success of these providers had less to do with their therapeutic approach than it did with the time they invested in their patients.”

Marci is currently studying empathy, “the ability of the brain to accurately mirror the emotions it perceives in another.” He has applied his studies to the critique of clinical trials of pharmaceuticals in which the study providers’ interaction with patients adds a placebo effect which may skew the apparent benefit. In a busy practice a hurried physician may, however, have little time to empathize, and his treatment with any modality will be less effective. From Harvard medicine, summer, 2011

I’m reminded of reports of Medicaid patients who sought a new doctor, gave a history, had examinations and procedures, were treated, returned for followups and in time, found the doctor less interested and started the process anew, not reported their earlier consultations. Medicaid records identified these patients as over-users. If fact, they were lonely people bereft of family or friends and knew they would enjoy a social event with each new doctor. What they really needed was a social network.

In an internship, while in a crowded ER, a young physician had a patient in pain who was hard of hearing. He told the patient he would administer an injection to relieve his pain. “O. K., Doc,” replied the oldster. “O. K., Doc,” came a voice from an intoxicated patient in the next bed, behind a curtain. A few minutes later, the intern returned and asked: “Feeling better?” Yes, said the patient, thanks.” “Yes,” said the drunk, “I feel fine now.”

Physicians graduate burdened by debt and have deferred income during their years of training. The current economics of health care require them to be “productive” which means hurrying the patient through the interview. There’s little time for empathy. No wonder patients seek alternative and complementary practitioners and are willing to pay.

Eschew Bigotry

2011-10-16T21:10:00.000-07:00

I ain't afraid of your Yahweh
I ain't afraid of your Allah
I ain't afraid of your Jesus
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God
I ain't afraid of your churches
I ain't afraid of your temples
I ain't afraid of your praying
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

Rise up to your higher power
Free up from fear, it will devour you
Watch out for the ego of the hour
The ones who say they know it
Are the ones who will impose it on you
Rise up, and see a higher story
Free up from the gods of war and glory
Watch out for the threats of purgatory
The spirit of the wind won't make
A killing off of sin and satan

I ain't afraid of your Yahweh
I ain't afraid of your Allah
I ain't afraid of your Jesus
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God
I ain't afraid of your churches
I ain't afraid of your temples
I ain't afraid of your praying
I'm afraid of what you do in the name of your God

Mountebanks

2011-09-28T12:13:00.000-07:00

According to C.J.S. Thompson's The Quacks of Old London (page 100), the MARTHAMBLES is one of several nonexistent diseases invented by a Dr. Tufts in a pamphlet in order to sell his tonics and medicines. The other diseases mentioned in Tuft's pamphlet are the "Strong Fives" …, the "Moon Pall," and the "Hockogrockle." Tufts claims to have encountered these diseases on his travels over a period of forty years, and that he can cure 'em all.

Has anything changed?

Science?

2011-09-28T11:24:00.000-07:00

Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status.[1] Pseudoscience is often characterized by the use of vague, exaggerated or unprovable claims, an over-reliance on confirmation rather than rigorous attempts at refutation, a lack of openness to evaluation by other experts, and a general absence of systematic processes to rationally develop theories.

A field, practice, or body of knowledge can reasonably be called pseudoscientific when it is presented as consistent with the norms of scientific research; but it demonstrably fails to meet these norms.[2] Science is also distinguishable from revelation, theology, or spirituality in that it offers insight into the physical world obtained by empirical research and testing.[3] Commonly held beliefs in popular science may not meet the criteria of science.[4] "Pop" science may blur the divide between science and pseudoscience among the general public, and may also involve science fiction.[4] Pseudoscientific beliefs are widespread, even among public school science teachers and newspaper reporters.[5]

The demarcation problem between science and pseudoscience has ethical political implications as well as philosphical and scientific issues.[6] Differentiating science from pseudoscience has practical implications in the case of health care, expert testimony, environmental policies, and science education.[7] Distinguishing scientific facts and theories from pseudoscientific beliefs such as those found in astrology, medical quackery, and occult beliefs combined with scientific concepts, is part of science education and scientific literacy.[8]

The term pseudoscience is often considered inherently pejorative, because it suggests that something is being inaccurately or even deceptively portrayed as science.[9] Accordingly, those labeled as practicing or advocating pseudoscience normally dispute the characterization.[9]

source: Wikipedia

Naval History

2011-06-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

http://videos2view.net/PT658.htm

Wranglers Club

2011-04-14T09:42:00.000-07:00

Since 1993 I have been a member of an issues discussion group, the Wranglers Club of Puget Sound. Membership is open to any who are interested. 24 active members in turn present a paper on any subject they choose, followed by "wrangling" over the issue. Members include engineers, physicians, lawyers, teachers and businessmen. Members over 75 may choose emeritus status which allows them to attend but present no paper. Provisional members await openings in the base number of 24. Joe Iwano, retired urologist, organized the club in 1992.

The archive includes almost all the papers presented. There are a wide variety of topics, well researched and interesting. Philosophy, literature, politics, history, ecology and science were included in the first decade; economics and world affairs were added in the second decade.

In addition to the major topic, a member presents a brief personal "member's moment" limited to five minutes. Mine, to be presented tonight, presents an index to the archive and lists my own papers:
Oct. 1993: South African history and politics. During apartheid Sarah and I
travelled there and of course became instant experts on the country. We did
get a brief view of Nelson Mandela in Pietermaritzburg.
Feb. 1996: Humanism: a review of a book by Corliss Lamont explaining "Ethical
Culture Societies," "Secular," "Religious" and "Naturalistic"
Humanism. For an updated explanation read Epstein's "Good Without God."
Sep. 1998: Global Warming: the contribution of human and industrial activity.
This excited a rebuttal prepared by an organization supported by ExxonMobil
the following month.
Dec. 2000: Maritime Exploration of the Northwest Coast 1500-1800. (I have
presented this elsewhere twice, now a PowerPoint presentation.)
Mar. 2003: Tax Reform proposals for Washington State: the William Gates Sr.
committee report.
Sep. 2005: The Constitution and the Courts: a reaction to the Supreme Court's
decision awarding the presidency to W.
Mar. 2008: Health Care plans of the presidential candidates compared.
Sep. 2010: 18th C. Enlightenment philosophers: the historical foundations of
the U. S. Constituion.

I have no plans to be "emeritus." The challenges of preparing presentations, doing crossword puzzles and 60 years of marriage are keeping me stimulated. My next paper may or may not deal with the ethics and philosophy of profit-oriented health care schemes, the ethics and economics of the pharmaceutical industry, the history of public care of the indigent or whatever the whim of the moment inspires.

Names

2011-02-09T21:28:00.000-08:00

Worshipful Company of SkinnersFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search

Skinners' Hall (1770–90) by W. JuppThe Worshipful Company of Skinners (known as The Skinners' Company) is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. It was originally an association of those engaged in the trade of skins and furs. It has evolved into an educational and charitable institution, supporting schools such as Tonbridge School in Tonbridge, Kent; The Skinners School in Tunbridge Wells Kent; The Judd School (also in Tonbridge) and The Skinners' Company's School for Girls in Hackney, London.

Queen Margarete of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, here reproduced, is entered in the roll of the fraternity of Our Lady under date XV year of King Edward IV (A.D. 1475)Under an order issued by the Lord Mayor of the City of London in the 15th century, the Company ranks in sixth or seventh place (making it one of the "Great Twelve City Livery Companies") in the order of precedence of the Livery Companies, alternating annually with the Merchant Taylors' Company. Although this cannot have been the origin of the phrase "At sixes and sevens", as the phrase appears in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer over one hundred years earlier, a connection between the event and the phrase is presumed[by whom?] to exist in some manner.[citation needed]

The Skinners are normally sixth in the order of precedence in even numbered years, and at seven in odd numbered years, but as the Lord Mayor for 2005/6 was a member of the Merchant Taylors' company they kept precedence. Merchant Taylors' kept precedence in 2006/7, their regular turn.

The Company's motto is To God Only Be All Glory.

Playing in the dirt

2011-01-26T16:38:00.000-08:00

Warm weather (relatively) and dry. An opportunity for an attack on shotweed and detritus. Tidying up around the new retaining wall and filling in depressions in the adjacent lawn. Crocuses and narcissus appearing. Regret not planting more bulbs last fall. The lawn is green, you easterners. Reset bricks in the steps in the backyard. In this climate one can garden year-round.

Clambo ch. 3

2011-01-05T14:54:00.000-08:00

With the help of the Scituate MA librarian I have traced the Baker family member who had googled "Clambo" and found my post of 2+ years ago. We had a long and nostalgic conversation by phone, exchanging the history of the boat and the family. He sent a photo of the boat in warpaint as USCGR 820. Although the owner's stories were exaggerated, the vessel had a useful career in WW II and the family is justly proud.

Family Ties

2010-12-03T20:45:00.000-08:00

I cannot express more sincerely my pleasure at the series of visits with family members during the Thanksgiving weekend. We are so pleased that our home remains the snug harbor for this family and a desired port of call for relatives and friends from afar and near. We are so happy that we did not succumb to the urging to move into a retirement community. We sincerely hope that this will be our home and family focus for some years to come. Love to all.

Clambo redux

2010-11-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

My anecdote about the yacht Clambo brought a recent comment on the post from the grandson of the owners! We hope that we can establish communication.

Sea Adventures Chapter 8

2010-10-25T15:44:00.000-07:00

In a recent Kaffeeklatch discussion of steering in a following sea, I was reminded of lessons learned when en route to Panama via Guantanamo Bay. My PT 4-boat division left Miami, overnighted in a bay on the north coast of Cuba, then rounded the eastern part of Cuba and went west to "Gitmo." On the last leg we were going downwind a a cruising speed of 35 knots with a following sea. At our speed we overtook the wave ahead, surfing down the face of a billow and pitching down into the trough, sometimes burying the bow. Green water swept over the boat and we had to clear the foredeck of crewmen. The 594 boat was cruising to port and on one occasion I looked over to see a wave sweep over that boat and a man swimming desperately to avoid being swept overboard. I later learned that a man had been lost from an earlier squadron. Experience taught us to steer to port or starboard and present a forward quarter to the wave rather than bury the bow.

The next lesson came when searching the flat coast of Columbia for the entrance to the Magdalena River to go upstream to Baranquilla. The lead boat suddenly turned right, radioing "hard right" because of apparent shoal water ahead. In fact we had found the river's muddy outflow when well offshore. With plenty of water under us we entered the muddy current and approached the entrance. The strong current was working against an onshore wind, setting up short, steep seas in the river mouth. Once again we had to take care not to bury the bow. I was reminded of this when reading the account of the French explorer, Lapeyrouse, and his 1782 catastrophe at Lituya Bay when 3 of his ships' boats were caught in a strong ebb tide working against an onshore wind and seas and two boats and their crews were lost.

commonwealth

2010-10-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

Commonwealth ( from the Latin communis, Ango-Saxon wela, well)
def.: the body of people constituting a state or politically organized community.
The American "commonwealth" is based on the origins of our constitution in the Enlightenment philosophies which inspired the Founding Fathers.

Anarchy (from the greek, anarchia)
def.: a state of political disorder.

Taxes:
The price of civilzation. (Oliver Wendell Holmes quote).

THEOLOGY

2010-05-04T11:41:00.000-07:00

I AM THE VERY MODEL . . .
with appreciation and apologies to Gilbert & Sullivan

I am the model of a modern Unitarian,
I've information on beliefs both new and antiquarian;
I know the Coptic Gospels and the Arianic heresy;
The Sermons on the Mount and to the hypocritic Pharisee.

I'm very well acquainted, too, with liberal theology
And social action to preserve a livable ecology:
About a warming atmosphere I'm teeming with a lot of news:
(lot of news? lot of news?)
"An Inconvenient Truth" convinces me of Al Gore's eco-views!

Chorus: An Inconvenient Truth convinces us of Al Gore's eco-views
An Inconvient Truth convinces us of Al Gore's eco-views,
An Inconvenient Truth convinces us of Al Gore's eco-eco-views!

The Transcendental authors, friends of Alcott and of Emerson
Personified Enlightenment, not Puritan, but much more fun.
In liberal theology, ideas non-sectarian,
I am the very model of a modern Unitarian!

Chorus: In liberal theology, ideas non-sectarian,
he is the very model of a modern Unitarian!

Moslem or Evangelist, I'm open to the views of all!
Buddhist or Confucianist, I seek the truth at freedom's call.
Lifestyles that flout convention, Vegan, Gay or Rastifarians:
They all will be considered by inquiring Unitarians!

Hosea Ballou and Hank Thoreau and
Humanists preached caring deeds.
Salvation's not in dogma nor in introspective, narrow creeds.
Poets Oliver and Sarton may be muse for Peter's ponderings;
(ponerings? ponderings?)
Which summon his beloved flock from all their
sundry wanderings!

Chorus: Which summon his beloved flock from all their
sundry wanderings,
Which summon his beloved flock from all their
sundry wanderings,
Which summon his beloved flock from all their
sundry wanderings!

While Joan inspires our consciences to remedy all social ills
Like homelessness and bigotry
and poverty and sweatshop mills.
In liberal theology, in matters non-sectarian,
I am the very model of a modern Unitarian!

Chorus: In liberal theology, in matters non-sectarian,
He is the very model of a modern Unitarian!

Bob Kechley has a gift in music versatility;
The choir can make the welkin ring in contrapuntal harmony:
Palestrina or nouveau, theirs is the music of the spheres.
Their offerings elicit cheers; then they go out for several beers!

Religious Education spurs our youth to find maturity;
The youth explore conservative and liberal philosophy.
Theyll come to lead our crowded world with
flying banners all unfurled;
Let's co-exist, love one and all; they'll tell us all
that peas are whirled!

Chorus: They'll tell us all that peas are whirled;
They'll tell us all that peas are whirled;
They'll tell us all that peas are whirley-whirled!

I've seen the temple, church and mosque and several kinds
of synagogue;
A wide variety of sects, both digital and analog;
Nietzsche and the "Fall of Man," I've read the Gita and Koran
And still, when all is said and done, I am a Unitarian!

Chorus: And still, when all is said and done, he is a Unitarian!

Realities and Fantasies

2010-02-26T11:26:00.000-08:00

Boatskipper?Why the name "Boatskipper"? My boyhood dream was to attend the Naval Academy and make the navy my career. I was inspired by my father's Harvard College roommate, Myron Richardson, who was commissioned Ensign at the end of WW I and remained in the navy until 1945. His only son died in his teens and he was fond of my parents, my brother and myself and visited us often . During the years of limitations on the size of navies his opportunities for promotion (as a non-Annapolis officer) were limited and he was "passed over" once for Lieutenant, once for Lt. Commander. Then Roosevelt began the buildup of our navy during the 1930s and "Ritchie" became executive officer in the battleship Arkansas, then captain of a DDL destroyer leader. After Pearl Harbor he had a distinguished career and retired as a Rear Admiral.

I enlisted in the navy V-1 program in December, 1942 and was called up in the V-12 program in June, 1943, comissioned 1 November 1944 and ultimately became boat captain of the PT 591 in November, 1945. The war had been won by others with no contribution from me, thanks to Truman's decision to nuke the foe. There being no use for MTBs, my tenure as captain ended in a month. I spent the next few weeks as a harbor pilot, then as a defence counsel for general courts martial. I reentered college in the fall of 1946 and graduated in 1947.

My next opportunity was captain (and sole crew member) of the yacht Clambo, a 46 foot Matthews cruiser, owned by the Baker family of Scituate, Mass. I had the job three summers while going to medical school. The best of that experience is documented in an earlier "Sea Adventure" post.

The lure of the sea has been documented by poets. Being at sea in a typhoon is awesome. Being unexpectedly at sea in a hurricane is demanding. Calm sailing, motor off in a sailboat, is tranquility. Racing at 6 knots, beating to windward, is competition. Never owning a boat larger than a penguin, we enjoyed crewing for others, delivering yachts for friends to northern waters and charters. The family became moderately competent around boats. We had our share of misadventures which may be reported separately.

I am the Captain of the Pinafore I sang in high school. Our kids grew up with The Walloping Window Blind chantey. Friend and artist, Ted Rand, drew the sketch in the profile. We always thought we would own a sailboat named that; it would require a broad transom to accommodate the letters.

So being a boatskipper is more fantasy than reality. Fantasy enriches life so please indulge me in mine.

celebration

2010-02-24T16:03:00.000-08:00

59 years married today. Pastor Raymond Johnson told us none of the couples he married had divorced aand we were not to be the first. I can't say I have an analysis of how we survived the problems of marriage and I won't pretend that there were none. Maybe we are just too stubborn to give up. More likely we are interdependent and chose to find a way to put that relationship first. I f you read my blog about the sea adventure to Marblehead you know I was smitten early and remain so.

2009-12-13T14:10:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS BY DECADES

In the 1920s my family Christmases were spent at the Holyoke home of my Childs grandparents, Fred and Jennie, with aunts Nell and Rachel, uncles Fred and George, their wives Thelma and Leida, cousin Gwendolyn and a large number of Bowers, Jennie's 12 brothers and sisters and their families. The 92 mile trip from Needham to Holyoke in a temperamental Buick was marked by cobbled roads through all the intervening towns while the Boston-Springfield interurban trolley passed on rails. Flat tires were frequent and Dad demonstrated skill in repairing blowouts and a rich barnyard vocabulary. To avoid backseat fights my brother and I were separated by a seat-to-roof stack of suitcases. Grandfather, a Holyoke Alderman for 44 years, was visited by many city staff and politicos. The tree was always too tall and had to be cut off at the top. The kid who enjoyed it most was Grandfather.

In the mid 1930s my brother and I persuaded our parents to celebrate at our home in Needham. We exchanged visits with friends to check out Santa's gifts and combined our Lionel train sets for a larger railroad. Gifts during Great Depression years were commonly necessities such as clothing. Snow was common and snowmen, forts and snowball fights were the rule. A horse-drawn plow cleared the sidewalk.

In the 1940s two Christmases were spent in warm climes courtesy of the war: 1944 in Miami and 1945 in Samar, Phillippine Islands where the temperature was 99 degrees and the relative humidity 99%. It was more than a year before I accommodated to another cold winter.

The 1950s brought new and exciting changes: marriage, five children, three transcontinental moves, our first house at 6707 SE 24th Street, end of residencies and a startup medical practice on Mercer Island. The larger burden was shouldered by Sarah: Chief Home Economist, Child Development Specialist, Chief of Animal Husbandry and other titles. To shield the tree and the oranemnts from toddlers, we erected the tree inside a playpen, secured the trunk to the corners with ropes, and placed the wrapped gifts inside. Mother of a toddler, take note!

The 1960s Christmas gifts reflected the full enjoyment of the Great Northwest: skiing, camping, sailing, opera and the full life of a large family. Al, Sr. and Priscilla Skinner resigned themselves to our permanent departure from New England and made several visits. Sarah's widowed sister, Priscilla Kingsley, moved to Mercer island with her four children and the cousins grew up together. In 1962 we built our permanent home next door to the old house with Sarah as General Contractor and multifactotem, Walter Berglund, ship's carpenter and John Malmfeldt, architect. 1963 is a year to be mourned for 10 year old Thomas was killed in an accident and also Al, Senior died of heart disease. We still grieve. Life went on and the ski trips extended over the Northwest. Peter entered the University of Washington and became a "madman" in the U. S. Navy Air Reserve. The medical practice grew and we built a new office building in collaboration with five partners.

The 1970s were periods of unrest and Civil Rights progress and youth rebellion. We were spared the extremes which afflicted other families. We spent three months in Europe, Al on a WHO fellowship, Sarah, Elizabeth and Matthew exploring and doing assignments for school and enriching ourselves with the Old World experience. Jody pioneered as a student at The Evergreen State College, an unconventional and challenging place, took up mountaineering, went to Outward Bound school, worked in Alaska fisheries. Peter was a working architect. Elizabeth followed to TESC. Matthew entered the Navy, schooled with Hyman Rickover and served in nuclear submarines. He returned to Western Washington University and graduated as a computer scientist at Microsoft. Christmas was at home except for one year in Hawaii (which wasn't the same!).

The 1980s Christmases found a daughter-in-law, two sons-in-law and grandchildren to liven things up. Evan graduated at Harvard after a crew career and Molly followed her parents to Evergreen. Sarah entered a career as a travel agent specializing in barge canal trips in Europe and we enjoyed the travel perks. Al retired in 1989 and he and Sarah toured behind the Iron Curtain just before it fell. Jody embarked on a career as a writer of scientific documents. Elizabeth was a counsellor at a facility for juvenile male felons, then became a gardener. Our home remains the focus for Christmas gatherings.

The 1990s and 2000s are years of aging, more or less gracefully and the home continues to be our snug harbor. Career changes: Adam is still an autombile technician but aspires to flight training; Matt left computers for creativity in construction; Elizabeth is a Child Protective Services social worker like her partner, Sonya DeWitt; Jody (now Jody Bower) is a student at Pacifica University intending to become a writer of mythological fiction; Pete and Sue are involved in Audi Quattro club and ski school. The daughters' husbands weren't keepers, alas.

We will be four generations at Christmas: Evan's wife Amy, their 2 1/2 year old Jacob, their unborn twins, all the usual suspects and others will be here. The only missing member is Molly, a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, Good for her. Fa La La!

Sea Adventures Chapter 6.

2009-11-21T20:58:00.000-08:00

In 1609 a fleet was sent to the support of the Virginia colony with supplies and additional settlers. The flagship, Sea Adventure, was shipwrecked near Bermuda in a storm. While the ship was taken apart for construction of a smaller vessel, the colonists found their island warm, fertile and free of other inhabitants. Some wanted to settle there and rebelled against the authority of the expedition leader. Our ancestor, Stephen Hopkins, and others were arrested, occused of treason, found guilty and sentenced to hang. Hopkins pleaded the case of his family in England and was pardoned. The reconstructed ship proceeded to Virginia but Hopkins was sent back to England. William Shakespeare heard of the story of the shipwreck and wrote a fanciful account, the play entitled The Tempest. One of the characters was named "Stefano."

The Mayflower religious dissenters were too few to establish a settlement so other adventurers were recruited. The religious folks became known as "Saints" and the adventurers as "Strangers." Hopkins was one of the latter and this time he took his family with him. His large party included son Giles and daughter Constantia (both by his former wife) and Damaris, daughter of his wife Elizabeth. En route, Elizabeth gave birth to a son, Oceanus! He also brought two servants, Edward Doty and Edward Litster.

From his first adventure to the Virginia colony he learned some of the Indian ways and was chosen for exploratory expeditions in Plymouth and diplomatic contacts with Squanto, Massasoit and other chiefs. Otherwise, he was often in trouble in the colony for selling liquor, disagreements with neighbors and other disputes noted in court records.

Althoug little Oceanus died in Plymouth, there were other children, nine in total.

Sea Adventures Chapter 5.

2009-11-19T15:24:00.000-08:00

Our first encounter with orcas occurred off Discovery Bay in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. With another couple, we had been salmon fishing from a cabin cruiser. Ahead there was a disturbance in the water, then a pod of 12 or more orcas swam toward and past us on both sides of the boat. Although we have seen orcas several times since, the first encounter was the most exciting. A fisherman in an outboard boat was packing up his gear, saying that ended the fishing.

That wasn't the end of the excitement; later Sarah saw something like a torpedo racing toward our boat. Two bottle-nosed dolphins (cousins of orcas) dove under the boat and played in the bow wave for several minutes.

We had a delightful week in our home waters, the Strait and the San Juan islands.

Sea Adventures: Chapter 7

2009-11-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

Patty and Harry "Skipper" Staton were old friends from Hingham days; in fact, I proposed to Sarah during a New Year's Eve party at their house and there we announced our engagement. We invited them to cruise the Northwest waters with us and chartered a sailboat. We went to sea through the large lock, sailed to Port Madison for the first night, then on to Gig Harbor. Patty asked: "Where are the buoys?"

In Puget Sound and most NW waters we can sail close to shore because the water deepens rapidly. In their familiar northeastern waters, reefs, rocks and shoals require aids to navigation. I explained the relative safety of our seaways. Then Patty asked: "How do you know where you're going?" I answered: "Going south, Mt. Rainier is on the left, going north it's on the right." However, I drew lines on a chart and pricked off our positions for reassurance.

Another summer we joined them in Massachusetss and sailed from Buzzards Bay to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard. There, indeed, there were buoys, beacons and lighthouses, rocks and shoals, fog, fast currents and sandbars. Skipper proposed 1/2 hour wheel watches but became very nervous as we approached the tricky Woods Hole passage when Sarah had the wheel. He suggested I take over but it was obvious Sarah would have none of that. Needless to say, the passage was otherwise uneventful.

Our third cruise with the Statons was out of Antigua. One of the three couples scheduled to make the trip cancelled on short notice and we were delighted to substitute. The yacht was a 60 foot sloop with captain and cook, slept eight in four cabins, had a desalination system and was very comfortable. The blue Caribbean was warm, the weather good and the company pleasant. Our only issue was: all three men wanted to take the helm, especially Frank, who had been a quartermaster in his WW II navy service. Skipper had to persuade him to share the wheelman duties.

Sea Adventures: Chapter 4.

2009-11-17T14:19:00.000-08:00

A CRUISE TO MARBLEHEAD

The owner’s guest was gorgeous. She and her four-year old son were invited to a birthday party for the owner’s granddaughter on the owner’s Matthews cruiser, Clambo. (It’s odd name was derived from the owners earlier boat, The Bounding Clam, perhaps an even more whimsical name,) The hired skipper was smitten and obtained permission to take the two on a day cruise to Marblehead.

The weather was fair and the cruise uneventful until the boat entered the harbor at Marblehead. It was a race day and the harbor was full of sailboats of assorted sizes and classes, all manned by highly competitive young people. While the skipper picked his way through the sailboats, a puff of wind lifted the boy’s hat off. It was a beanie with a propeller on top.

Disregarding the cries of “Get that stinkpot out of the way!” from the sailors, the skipper saw his priorities: he turned the boat and maneuvered to catch the sinking beanie, caught it with a boathook and restored it to its owner. At that point Karma was satisfied and they lived happily ever after.

Sea Adventures Chapter 3.

2009-11-17T12:23:00.000-08:00

Sea Adventures: Chapter 3.
BOOMERANG

Boomerang is a 26 foot Chris-Craft motor boat (a.k. a. “stinkpot”) with twin gasoline engines which our family chartered for a week in the San Juan Islands. We went in company with another motor yacht Aorangi manned by the Krakauer family, old friends from medical school days, one of several vacations together in the out-of-doors. We cruised, swam, sailed their sailboard and enjoyed the scenery of the islands, rivaled only by Penobscot Bay in Maine. All went well until our final day.

We parted company in Thatcher Pass south of Blakely Island, the Aorangi proceeding directly to the marina and restaurant at the north end of Blakeley, the Boomerang pausing to check a potential anchorage at the south end, to join the others for dinner ashore later. There is a wide bay with good water and no obstructions and it seemed OK.

With Jody steering, Sarah and I as lookouts, we idled out of the bay into Thatcher Pass, watched the fathometer deepen, then pushed the throttles forward. Then there was an impact; the boat rose and settled, another impact, and a third, as I threw the engines out of gear and we slowed to a stop. There was no vibration as I engaged the shafts, but idling again, lifted the engine hatch to see water flooding the compartment.

Sarah wisely had moved life jackets from the forepeak to the cockpit when we had begun the cruise. She issued them as I turned the boat toward shore; as the stern settled the crew assembled on the foredeck and we ran onto the beach. We built a driftwood cradle under the tilting boat as water flooded knee-deep into the cabin.

The radio had been disabled for we could not raise a coast guard vessel we saw in the pass, nor anyone else. Sarah and the girls left to get help and the men stayed with the boat. Teenagers in a jeep picked up the ladies and took them to the marina where they contacted the owner, whose response was “What do you expect me to do?”
He figured out something because about 11 PM a motorized scow appeared with a crew including a diver. With a sling on an A frame, they picked up the stern, the diver identified the holes and tacked on plywood over canvas gaskets and a pump emptied most of the water. They took Boomerang in tow and in a few hours she was hauled out on the dock in Anacortes. The others joined us next day, navigating in fog.

There were three rents in the plywood hull, each three feet long, close to the keel. Propellers and shafts were undamaged. We had struck a deadhead floating vertically just below the surface which had nailed us three times. It was the last charter of the season and the last night of the charter. Insurance covered all repairs; the engines were repaired with alternators rather than generators, and the boat was salvaged intact. We were fortunate to be close to shore or we would have been in the dinghy or worse. Curiously, the owner did not refund the damage deposit. We had saved his boat!

2009-11-17T11:20:00.001-08:00

Sea Adventures: Chapter 2.

TATOOSH
There have been two or more vessels named Tatoosh, two of which were Bill Garden-designed sailing yachts home-ported in Seattle. The older of these is my subject. Garden enjoyed basing his designs on classic vessels: the model for Tatoosh was the Lake Sebago sailing canoe.

Tatoosh is the name of an island off Cape Flattery at the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is the site of a lighthouse and Coast Guard station. The name, in the Macah Indian language, is derived from its shape, that of a breast. Native Americans appreciated the female form.

The Sandy Bill family grew and needed a larger boat than their 24-footer. Tatoosh
Was 42 feet in length, 7 foot beam, canoe-bottomed, fin keel. She was ketch-rigged and originally had a ¾ fore triangle. Because of the light airs in Puget Sound, Sandy re-rigged her with a masthead halliard to carry a bigger spinnaker and genoa, not always a good idea considering her beam, underbody and tenderness.

We had the good fortune to sail as guests on Lake Washington and later were asked to deliver her to the owners and other guests in Canadian waters so they could begin their cruise farther north. We were delighted to comply. Bob and Bobby Coe were our companions the first summer, Bob and Luella Nielsen, the second. We also chartered her for family cruising on Puget Sound. Our children rapidly became competent crew.

The Bill family once had a toddler, wearing a life jacket, go overboard while under sail. Sally was restrained from going overboard after her child and the skipper calmly maneuvered to return and pick up one, not two, in the water. A “man overboard” drill should precede every summer cruise.

On one occasion we sailed from south Puget Sound in light airs toward Shilshole Bay under spinnaker and the wind freshened progressively. The boat had a tendency to roll, the spinnaker oscillating. While thinking how to get it down, we became aware that a Coast Guard helicopter was hovering over us, its downdraft collapsing the oversize spinnaker. Thank you, Uncle Sam.

A later Garden-designed Tatoosh was a 70 footer, of no interest to us!

Sea Adventures Chapter 1

2009-11-14T12:12:00.000-08:00

I found a picture of the Iwolani , a cruising catamaran, 56 feet long, a prototype built when catamarans were primarily day sailors. A lumber tycoon commissioned a vessel which would include berths and ameneties for cruising. The vessel had a central dayroom on the wing, three berths in each hull. A Scottish-Yankee friend found it for sale, cheap, on the Honolulu waterfront. Why?

During a day sail the owner retired to a bunk in the crew quarters, accessable through a hatch in the starboard forward hull. The man at the helm cleated down the mainsheet to light a cigarette. Big mistake. A puff of wind caught the sail and over she went, bottom up. Once over, catamarans are nearly impossibly to right, in contrast to a monohull.

The owner was rescued by diving under and opening the hatch. The cat was towed upside down into harbor and righted with a crane. Immediately, a for sale sign appeared.

My friend Sandy owned a monohull with which his family cruised the NW waters. His first four children were girls, then came along two little brothers. The teen age girls objected to boys in their cabin. Prowling the Honolulu waterfron, Sandy chanced upon the catamaran and thought "girls to port, boys to starboard, parents between in the dayroom." The unhappy owner sold it for a song and, as well, shipped it to Eureka California on a freighter.

The vessel had no inboard power. A WW II surplus outboard motor on a long shaft was used for harbor manouvering; otherwise it was sail only. Sandy recruited a crew of friends who sailed Iwolani to Westport, Washington, and I joined a second crew for the next leg. We were towed out of harbor by a fishing vessel and set sail for the Strait of juan de Fuca. It wasn't fun.

The wind blew alternatively from the north and the northwest setting up cross seas which struck the windward hull, then the leeward hull, creating a twisting motion as we beat. For the second time in my sea-going life, I suffered mal de mer off Westport, which persisted for 24 hours. None of the six doctors aboard had a remedy. One even photographed my posterior as I vomited over the side. As designated navigator, I took radio direction finder angles on shore stations. Instead of rounding Tatoosh island, I found us 65 miles to the southwest off the Columbia River entrance the next day.

The wind backed to the west and at last we were able to set a course to the north, rounding into the strait and arriving at Port Angeles late in the afternoon. In the sheltered waters of the inland northwest sea the Iwolani cruised happily for several years, with an inboard engine added in the starboard hull.

The Hundred Years War

2009-10-06T13:22:00.000-07:00

Watching an interview with the Secretaries of State and Defence, I was reminded of a story.

A messenger galloped up to the king of England, jumped off his lathered horse, knelt, and said:

YOUR MAJESTY, THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR HAS BEGUN!

The modern hundred years war began with the rise of Muslim fundamentalism, particularly the Wahabi sect, and the recognition that the 7th century anachronistic tribal male-dominated society was threatened by the examples of western democracy, rise of western women to their just place in society, the civil rights movement and other examples of western social progress. Its manifestations were the attack on the Marine Corps barracks in Lebanon, the bombing of embassies in Africa, midair airliner bombings, disco bombing in Germany and two bombings at the World Trade Center, first in the undergound garage and then the destruction of the towers.

There is no doubt that the seeds of hatred were also fertilized by European colonialism, American overthrow of a democratically elected president in Iran, Russian support of anti-American regimes during the cold war and our responses to Russian moves. That is history.

Now, my Liberal friends sport bumper stickers sayin saying End This War, Peace is Patriotic,
and the like, as if the United States unilaterally could declare peace and friendship, dismantle its military establishment and live in harmony with the world.

If we did, do you expect the Taliban would cease its war to establish a 7th century authoritarian theocracy in the Middle East? Do you expect Osama Bin Laden to welcome westerners into his tent as brothers? Do you expect Palestinians to surrender their "right of return" to ancestral villages or Israelis to throw open their doors to all Semitic peoples? Is America wrong to fear nukes in the hands of fundamentalists in Pakistan?

I still believe the western principles of freedom of speech, freedom of (and from) religion, popular democracy and government under law are the weapons which will win the world, even when the principles are attacked at home by monied interests corrupting democracy and attempts to use government to impose regressive dogma on us heretics.

Ideally, Americans and their democratic co-believers will patiently exploit the strengths of a society which took a giant leap during the Enlightenment: spread its humanist message through education, the media, exchange student programs and overseas charitable aid to developing countries.

Not only must we control the proliferation of nuclear weapons but find a way to reduce the availability of arms of all sorts throughout the world.

Does anyone believe this will be accomplished in less than one hundred years?

Decisions

2009-10-05T12:30:00.000-07:00

It is not easy deciding to leave the home we built in 1962 for seven people and assorted animals (cats, dogs, gerbils, white rats) plus a few teenagers belonging to other families. We have the accumulation of 58 years of marriage, heirlooms, memorabilia, keepsakes and junk.

We were on the cusp of moving to a retirement community but backed away at the next-to-last minute and decided to stay here!

Naming babies

2009-09-29T10:07:00.000-07:00

We just received an e-mail announcing that we will be greatgrandparents of identical twins. Twins run in both extended families. I recall that, when we were expecting our fourth child, grandparents offered suggestions as to names, including their own. We don't intend to do that; it's the parents prerogative exclusively.

My brother came up with the best suggestion. Name the child for great-great-uncle Solomon, a member of an 1830s volunteer fire brigade, whose leather firebucket, engraved with his name, was a family heirloom. George's suggestion was Solomon Firebucket Skinner.

We accepted his suggestion with all the seriousness it deserved. While Sarah was tending the new baby, our toddlers had a new kitten which they diapered, fed, burped and cuddled. We named the cat Solomon FIrebucket Skinner. Solomon was a fine cat and being a tom, had many battles with a neighborhood grey tom for neighborhood supremacy as a sire. Ultimately all the neighborhood kittens resembled Solomon.

The Armchair Navigator

2009-09-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

With a modest background in the Navy and a quickly acquired love of the sea, I fully expected that sailing would be an important part of our family life. Yes, it has been, but without owning anything larger than a 12 foot sailboat. We have sailed the Northwest Coast in others' boats and charters, not without event! The unfulfilled dream was to own a cruising sailboat and I even had the name picked out:
THE WALLOPING WINDOW BLIND.

The name is the title of a sea chanty:

A capital ship for an ocean trip is The Walloping Window Blind. No wind that blew disturbed the crew nor bothered the Captain's mind. The man at the wheel was made to feel contempt for the wildest blow, but it often appeared, when the gale had cleared, that he'd been in his bunk below! . . .

We were delighted when friend and artist Ted Rand found the song and published it with his illustrations. We are proud owners of a copy which Sarah bought and persuaded Ted to autograph. He dashed off the sketch shown above, much to our appreciation.

So blow ye winds, hi ho! A-roving I will go! I'll stay no more on England's shore, so let the music play - - - I'm off on the morning train, to cross the raging main! I'm off to my love, with a boxing glove, ten thousand miles away!

At least in my fantasies.

The Grenade story

2009-09-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

GRANDFATHER’S GREAT WAR SOUVENIRS

Or how we learned it was loaded.

Grandfather Fred Childs was a national guardsman and loved the military. He served under General Pershing on the Mexican border on the 1916 punitive expedition against Pancho Villa, the revolutionary, who had attacked an American town. During the Great War he was a marksmanship instructor, deemed too old to go to France with the American Expeditionary Forces. In his attic in Holyoke were a variety of military souvenirs including the wooden stocks of rifles, gas masks, haversacks, uniform parts and medals. His grandchildren loved visiting the attic and playing soldier. He exercised us in the manual of arms and close order drill. A walk with Grandfather was a parade.

He gave us several souvenir items including a hand grenade, allegedly emptied of explosive. The pin had been removed. The story goes as follows.

One summer day my parents were at the tennis club, Dad playing, Mother watching. I was in bed with bronchitis, the shade drawn, window partly open, the bedroom door at a 45 degree angle with a small bedside table between the door and bed. Brother George, then about nine or ten, was playing in our basement playroom with Teddy Hollis, then about eight. One of them flipped the pin on the grenade which promptly began to hiss. They dropped it and ran for the stairs and an outside door.

George reconsidered, planning to throw it out the basement window, and went back downstairs, then stopped beside the playroom door. The grenade exploded generating a cloud of black smoke and a blast. George, fortunately, was not in the direct line of the blast.

I heard a loud bang and immediately the blast, circling the main and upper floors without damage, found the open window and took my shade, curtain and the window glass out to the front lawn. The angled door protected me. I jumped up, ran downstairs to find George coming up the cellar stairs in a cloud of smoke. I yelled at him to run down the street to the fire alarm box and went upstairs to put on some pants.

The alarm triggered a whistle on the fire station to call the volunteer firefighters to the neighborhood. At the tennis courts, my parents heard the 4 – 3 – 1 whistle indicating our street and dashed for home. The firemen arrived, Mrs. Hollis shrieked “There are children in there” and they followed the smoke into the house, not knowing what they were confronting.

We boys were safe outdoors when my parents arrived in a state of high panic. In the playroom, phosphorus ( for it was a smoke grenade) had embedded in the beams and wooden walls, and when exposed to air, ignited and smoldered. The blaze was mostly quickly controlled, but little blazes kept reappearing. The firemen remained on site for the next day and a half. Later my father chipped at the burned spots for more that week, with small flare-ups whenever a bit of phosphorus was newly exposed.

I understand that my mother and grandmother spoke severely to my grandfather.

class warfare?

2009-09-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

The following quote is from an article in Harvard Monthly mag.

"Wilson: A few years ago, our colleague Richard Freeman warned that rising inequality in America could produce a two-tiered society, in which the more affluent citizens live fundamentally different lives from the working classes and the poor. Labor economists like Dick Freeman have been documenting the rise of wage and income inequality since the early 1970s. Now sociologists and other noneconomists are increasingly aware that a rise in social inequality has accompanied the rise in economic inequality.
Social inequality includes differences in living space between the affluent and middle- and lower-income groups, such as the growing residential separation symbolized by gated communities. Social inequality also includes differences in civic engagement, political participation, and political behavior, as well as different levels of involvement in the welfare and criminal justice systems, in mental and physical health care, and private and public school enrollment. We also see differences in college and university enrollments, including differential access to elite universities.
In addition to these social-economic consequences, the poor and working classes are more adversely affected by the deterioration of the urban infrastructure and air pollution. Just about every important aspect of social and economic life may be affected by the rising inequality in American society. This is an issue that’s going to receive increasing attention from social researchers."

This is on page 1 of several. It is only a matter of time before the disadvantaged minority are going to organize politically, or worse, resort to violence in reaction to perceived injustice. The salaries and perks for corporate executives are obscene. The trend described negates the founding fathers ideal of a democratic society.

Part of the problem is the power of wealth to influence elections and legislation through advertising in the media. The Supreme Court is now visiting the issue. Some argue that Free Speech entails no limits on expenditures for political purposes. In contrast, the McCain-Finegold Bill recognized that wealthy interests influence elections through campaign expenditures. Is the Democracy threatened? Will there be a reaction from the disadvantaged multitude?

A responsible corporation acting in its own long-range interest would seek to be seen as responsible to the public, its product consumers and to its shareholders (through retirement funds and investments) and restrain the greed perceived when the executives feather their own nests at the expense of the work force and the consumer. Fat chance?

human resources

2009-09-08T16:48:00.000-07:00

Fathers had a role as resource persons in their young adulthood. I think we were important to children and spouses and relied upon for all sorts of support. True, children turned first to their mother whose competence is undeniable. In old age, despite absence of apparent decrepitude, I find myself unlikely to be called on as a resource or support person.

I am delighted that my children find strong support among themselves, with each other, and with the friends and significant others in their lives. I hope they know they can also rely on me.

Yangtse River Junk

2009-08-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

This is a model of an upper Yangtse River "Open-throat" junk, so named because there was no foremast. A tow line attached to the mainmast and was hauled upriver by a team of trackers on the shore. Cargo is stowed in a hold accessed by a series of hatches on the deck. The Mao Yang Tse junk is described by Alfred Worcester in his compilation: Junks and Sampans of the Yangtse River.

The model was obtained in the 1930s by then Lt. Myron T. Richardson, USN, who had been the college roommate at Harvard of my father. He presented it to my brother and me. It is an accurate representation and models may have been used in lieu of plans by shipwrights. It is about 30 inches long.

Over the years the sails and rigging rotted, some parts were lost and it suffered some damage in an earthquake in Seattle. It was restored by model maker Johnnie Ridgway and is in excellent condition. I have offered it to various Sinoculture institutions who have shown no interest. It may be offered for sale at The Cutty Sark store, a maritime artifact shop in Seattle.

Give a hoot on the horn, Bert.

2009-08-11T17:27:00.000-07:00

The Eastern Steamship Line was formed from several small coastal companies which provided transport from Maine to New York and beyond. The Bangor Packet ran from Penobscot Bay to Boston and carried our ancestors on business. The Packet is the subject of a beloved anecdote which needs to be told by someone fluent in the "Down East" dialect. You'll find it on the old record, Bert and I. Several family members will oblige with no urging whatsoever.

Far Flung Family

2009-08-11T17:01:00.000-07:00

Marvels of technology keep us in touch with the extended family. Examples:

Molly in Bouzmou, Morocco, Peace Corps, telephoned yesterday.

Tom and Ann Short in Heidelburg, Germany, e-mailed.

Sarah Minore visiting in the Netherlands from Fierenze, sent pictures of Leigh and family and of Scott Whitman.

Tony and Chieko in Tokyo, e-mail regularly.

Ruth, in Needham, telephoned last week.

James and Kristy actualy visited from La Jolla.

Jody and Elizabeth overnighted en route to California.

Ralph is a regular e-mail correspondent.

We have Skype and will try to use it with anyone interested.

Love to all. Al and Sarah

ERROR MESSAGE

2009-08-02T10:01:00.000-07:00

Cousin Margot, then of Hambly Studios, gave me a poster many years ago. I'll share it.

The only mistake

I ever made

was when I thought

I was wrong

but

I was mistaken.

* * *

A mistake isn't as good as a well-substantiated error.

* * *

Experience is the name one gives to his mistakes.

* * *

There is glory in a great mistake.

Mottet Memorial

2009-08-01T10:25:00.001-07:00

MY FRIEND, KARLE MOTTET

KARLE WAS A GARDENER. A FARM BOY FROM SOUTH KING COUNTY, HE CULTIVATED A VEGETABLE GARDEN AT HIS HOME ON MERCER ISLAND AND ANOTHER AT HIS HARTSTENE ISLAND RETREAT, BATTLING DEER FOR THE PRODUCE.

KARLE WAS A SCHOLAR. HIS ACADEMIC CAREER IS IMPRESSIVE AND OTHERS WILL ATTEST TO HIS SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTIONS. AS A TEACHER, HE INSPIRED AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF SCIENTISTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TOXICOLOGY.

KARLE WAS A HISTORIAN. HE EXPLORED HIS MOTHER’S FAMILY HISTORY ( SHE A VOLGA GERMAN FROM ODESSA) AND THE WEB OF EUROPEAN HISTORY AND MIGRATIONS.

HE EXPLORED AS WELL THE CELTIC PEOPLES’ HISTORY AND THE VOYAGES OF THE NORSE. LATE IN LIFE HE MADE A SOLO TRIP TO L’ANSE AUX MEADOWS IN NEWFOUNDLAND TO SATISFY HIS CURIOSITY ABOUT VIKING SETTLEMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA. WITH A COLLABORATOR, LOREN BLISS, HE WAS ENGAGED IN WRITING A HISTORY OF THESE PEOPLES WHEN HE DIED.

KARLE WAS AN ATHLETE. HE PLAYED BASEBALL AT WASHINGTON STATE AND TENNIS AT MERCER ISLAND’S ORIGINAL COURT AT THE FORMER CARL STROUD PROPERTY OWNED BY PHIL AND LOLA DEANE. KARLE, NANCY, SARAH AND I WERE REGULAR MIXED DOUBLES PLAYERS ON WEDNESDAYS. SHE LOBBED AND HE SLICED. HIS GREATEST DELIGHT WAS TO PLAY NET AND SLICE THE BALL SO IT REBOUNDED OVER THE NET BEFORE AN OPPONENT COULD HIT IT.

OUR WIVES ALTERNATED IN HOSTING DINNER AFTER TENNIS. CONVERSATIONS RANGED OVER ALL AREAS OF INTEREST BUT LIKE MANY CLOSE FRIENDS WE TALKED A LOT ABOUT OUR CHILDREN. GRETCHEN AND MATTHEW WERE CLASSMATES AT EAST SEATTLE ELEMENTARY. WE SHARED OUR JOYS AND CONCERNS ABOUT THE MOTTET CHILDREN AND OURS.

KARLE WAS AN ENVIRONMENTALIST AND NATURE LOVER. HE HAD MOST OF HIS HARTSTENE ISLAND PROPERTY DESIGNATED FOREST TO RESTRICT DEVELOPMENT. HE ENJOYED THE HUMMINGBIRD ACTIVITY ABOUT HIS FEEDERS, IDENTIFIED THE WATERFOWL WINTERING OVER IN THE SOUND AND WATCHED THE EAGLES NESTING ON HIS PROPERTY. WE WALKED THE BEACH WITH NANCY HUNTING FOR AGATES AND DUG CLAMS. VISITING FRIENDS SAW THE SITE GROW FROM A TENT PLATFORM TO A JERRY GROPP DESIGNED CABIN ERECTED BY KARLE AND KURT, LATER ENLARGED TO A COMFORTABLE HOME.

KARLE AND NANCY WERE LOVING PARENTS. HE WAS INTRIGUED THAT KURT INVOKED HIS SWISS JOINT CITIZENSHIP TO LIVE AND WORK IN SWITZERLAND FOR SEVERAL YEARS. HE WAS PLEASED TO HAVE MARK BUILD A NEIGHBORING HOME ON HARTSTENE ISLAND. GRETCHEN BECAME HIS CARETAKER IN HIS LATER YEARS, SURELY MUCH APPRECIATED.

KARLE WAS A FRIEND, AND MANY CAN MAKE THAT CLAIM. THIS WAS MORE THAN JUST SHARED INTERESTS. OUR FRIENDSHIP SURVIVED A MAJOR DISAGREEMENT. HE REFERRED TO THE ANNUAL FALL FOOTBALL CLASSIC AS
THE YALE-HARVARD GAME.
AS AN EASTERNER AND AN IVY LEAGUER, I WAS REQUIRED TO CORRECT HIM: IT’S THE HARVARD-YALE GAME.

KARLE, IT WAS GOOD TO KNOW YOU.

A personal Christmas history

2009-07-30T16:41:00.000-07:00

CHRISTMAS MOMENTS

IN THE 1920S Christmas was celebrated at the home of my maternal grandparents. This required a 92 mile drive in a temperamental Buick on the Post Road from suburban Boston to Holyoke in the middle of Mass. The road went through every town and city on the direct line, sometimes on cobblestones, with the interurban trolley paralleling the route. One or more flat tires or blowouts were routine and my father had the tools to make repairs and the language to express his feelings; language surprising for a minister’s son and a school teacher. It took about 4 ½ hours to cover 92 miles.

Grandmother was the oldest of 13 Scottish brothers and sisters; nearly all lived nearby and joined our celebration. They taught us the old songs: Loch Lomond, Coming through the Rye, and a few steps of the Highland Fling. No one played bagpipes. I have since learned that bagpipes are an ill wind that nobody blows good.

Grandfather always had lots of Christmas candy and bought a tree too tall for the room so he had to cut off the top two or three feet. He was the most excited kid there.

IN THE 1930s My brother and I wanted to celebrate in our own home where our friends joined in, rejoicing over gifts, combining our Lionel train sets to make a bigger layout. The celebration was frugal because of the Depression. Sometimes the “gift” was necessary clothing. We often had a White Christmas And when I was short, the snow seemed deep (and in memory it seems deeper as time goes by).

IN THE 1940s Memorable Christmasses during my undistinguished Navy service in the tropics were hot and humid with 99 degree temperatures and 99% humidity. Santa brought V-Mail letters from home and an extra ration of beer.

IN THE 1950s Christmas definitely improved with my wife, Sarah, one, two three, four, then five excited children, our first little house (built c1907), $1,00 trees from Chubby and Tubby decorated with home made ornaments. One year cheap trees were sparse on one side so we bought two, placed then inside and outside the living room window and put lights on both sides. The tree appeared to penetrate the window.

IN THE 1960s and 1970s We built a new house, Sarah was project manager. Her sister Priscilla Kingsley and her four children moved to Mercer island and the family population nearly doubled. The children were growing and gifts were often camping, hiking and ski equipment as we thoroughly enjoyed the wonders of the Northwest. Each season we lined up the ski boots and the children, matched them one to the other as best we could, then swapped boots with three other families with four to six children each to complete the outfits. Sarah organized the first Mercer Island Beach Club Ski Swap which continues today on the Island.

IN THE 1980s-1990s Children married and brought us grandchildren and the generational cycle of Christmas joy was renewed. 6 year old Evan recited The Night Before Christmas from memory while being harassed by his little sister.

And in 2007 we welcomed a great-grandson.

The erstwhile pesky little sister, who leaves for a Peace Corps assignment in Morocco in March, recently wrote the following:

“ . .Since it’s my last Christmas in a nominally Christian country I’m making the most of it this year. At my house we’re getting a real tree [and] putting up Emily’s fake rosemary bush that has been trimmed into a tree in a pot. We’ll go to the Messiah with the Skagit Valley Chorus, then the Seattle Men’s Chorus and we’re also going to the [Christmas] Revels of course. If you are interested in going to The Nutcracker I really want to spend as much time with you as possible.”

She also reminded me of our family version of Hark, The Herald Angels Sing . . . God and Skinners reconciled . .

At Christmas dinner, by Sarah’s family tradition, the youngest recites Bobby Burns’ Scottish grace:

SOME HAE MEAT AN’ CANNA EAT,
AND SOME WAD EAT THAT WANT IT.
BUT WE HAE MEAT AND WE CAN EAT
AND SAE THE LORD BE THANKIT.

We have never served a haggis, however.

From the Skinner family:
May your Christmas be Merry
And your Holidays be Happy
And the World find Peace
In our children’s lifetime.

For the Wranglers Club and spouses, 2008
Al Skinner

Bragbag

2009-07-29T12:41:00.000-07:00

Is this a family heirloom? In the 1950s I bought a small yellow backpack for ski paraphernalia and starting collecting patches from various ski areas. In 1968 Sarah and Jody went with the Pacific Northwest Ski Association to Europe, bringing home patches also. The collection grew. I used it as well to carry picnic lunches to Husky football games. A friend spotted it and said: "I see you brought your bragbag." The name stuck.

I used it in travelling as a camera bag and added patches for various tourist destinations Sarah and I visited. Following is a list of the patches:

Ski areas: Mt. Baker, Alpental., Mt. Spokane, Pilchuck, Courmeyer, Schwitzer basin, Tirol, Sun Valley, Big Mountain, Whistler Mt., Verbier, Breuil-Cervinia, St. Anton, Innsbruck, Zermatt, Plateau Rosa, Innsbruck Chamonix, La Cluzas, Mt. Bachelor, Furstentum Liechtenstein, Mission Ridge, Ski Acres, White Pass, Stevens Pass, Snoqualmie Summit, Crystal Mountain, Lake Louise;

Travel: Zugspitze (Bavaria), Sabi Sabi Game reserve (S. Africa), Praha (Prague), Jugoslavia, Paris, Alsace, Lorraine, Rothenburg am der Tauber, Neuchwanstein, Kenya, Pompeii, Languedoc, Great Britain, Bosworth Field, Bretagne, Ch. de la Loire, Alaska, New Zealand, Italia, Firenze, Siena, Vancouver B.C. Expo, Cape Point (S. Africa), Antigua and Barbuda WI, Gibralter, a Mola (San Blas Islands), Wein;

Closer to home: Marblemount WA, Northwest Trek, Old Winthrop WA, Mercer Island, Olympic Nathinal Park.

Its latest outing was an 85th birthday brunch at the Chrystal Mot. Summit House thanks to my children, followed by a hike through the wildflowers.

Missing are many other mementoes, from Australia, Greece, Morocco, Norway, Russia, for example.

Evolution

2009-07-28T16:43:00.001-07:00

Evolutionary science is both fact-based and logical
There isn’t any conflict with a faith Doxological
Akin with all creation, mankind is biological
And that can’t be refuted by a dogma theological.

And so I’ll claim ancestry with humanoids of yore
And hope that “sapiens” means intelligence and more
Although I hae me doots because we often go to war
Let’s hope a kinder species evolves with peace forevermore.

Ancestry

2009-07-28T12:59:00.000-07:00

Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2005 11:55:39 -0800Dear Brian,Your grandfather enjoyed his Scottish ancestry and celebrated it with such marks as his "Bower tartan" trousers, which no Bower had ever worn. They were invented by a friend of his who wove cloth in tartan patterns. He directed that bagpipes* be played at his funeral.The scotch in us was diluted, not by soda or water, but by English origins primarily. The original Skinner emigrated from Chichester, West Sussex, near Portsmouth. Presumably most of the family were of Saxon origin, perhaps with some Celts from nearby Cornwall. Our genealogy research ends at about 1575. Almost all the Skinners in the 17th and 18th C. married similar immigrants from England. East Anglia married across the North Sea with the Dutch but I have no specifics. The Mayflower ancestors were Richard Warren from London and his wife from nearby, and Stephen Hopkins (named by Shakespeare! more on that below) from Hampshire and his wife, Elizabeth, from Whitechapel, Middlesex.There is a Swede early on and perhaps some "Scotch-Irish" who were actually Scots settled in Ulster by Cromwell and other British rulers.The Childs family, our mother's, bring in the Scots. Grandmother Jane (Jenny) Bower was born in Glasgow and came to America with her family at about 8 years of age. Her 12 younger brothers and sisters all live around Holyoke MA and the family was close. My aunts taught us a few steps of the Highland Fling and the old Scottish songs.Grandfather Fred Childs was born in Philadelphia and there the ethnicity broadens. The original John Child emigrated from England. A cousin - 3rd, 4th or more - has probably indentified his home as Shirland, Derbyshire. Then it gets varied. Son James Childs married Louisa Meredith - that name is Welsh. Great-grandfather William Childs married Matilda Lesher Bell. Her grandfather was a Scot, her mother , a Lesher or Loescher, was a Rhineland German.John Alexander bell married Amanda McCarty whose family came from Nova Scotia and whose mother was a Munro. Probably Scotch-Irish.All this assumes no hanky-panky!Shakespeare may have named the character "Stefano" in The Tempest for Stephen Hopkins who in 1608 was a prospective settler in the Jamestown colony. His ship, the Seaventure, was wrecked in Bermuda. At that time Bermuda was in a hazardous area with shallows and reefs and no Indian nor European inhabitants. While the wreck was dismantled to provide material to build two smaller vessels the settlers planted crops and found it a great spot to settle. Some rebelled against the expedition leader and were convicted of mutiny and two were hung. Hopkins was found guilty but pleaded the case of his wife and children in England. He was sent back to England on the first available ship. He got another chance in 1620 when the "Saints", the religious dissenters, needed more settlers for Plymouth colony and recruited the "Strangers" to fill out the party. Hopkins rebelled against the Mayflower Compact once ashore in Plymouth and was admonished by the Pilgrim leaders.This may be more than you want to know. We're mostly English beef with a large admixture of Scotch, some bratwurst, a leek and a bit of lutefisk.* A bagpipe is an il wind that nobody plays good.Regards, Uncle Al
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·Mark as read

Model Unitarian

2009-07-28T12:50:00.000-07:00

I Am the very Model

I am the very model of a modern Unitarian
I’ve information on beliefs both new and antiquarian
I know the Coptic Gospels and the Arianic heresy
The Sermons on the Mount and to the hypocritic Pharisee.

I’m very well acquainted too with liberal theology
And social action to preserve a livable ecology
About a warming atmosphere I’m teeming with a lot of news;
[ lot of news, news]
An Inconvenient Truth convinces me of Al Gore’s eco-views!

Chorus:
An Inconvenient Truth convinces us of Al Gore’s eco-views;
An Inconvenient Truth convinces us of Al Gore’s eco-views;
An Inconvenient Truth convinces us of Al Gore’s Eco-eco-views!

The Transcendental authors, friends of Alcott and of Emerson
Personified Enlightenment, not Puritan, and much more fun
In liberal theology, ideas non-sectarian,
I am the very model of a modern Unitarian!

Chorus:
In liberal theology, ideas non-sectarian,
He is the very model of a modern Unitarian!

Moslem and Evangelist, I’m open to the views of all
Buddhist and Confucianist, I seek the truth at reason’s call
Lifestyles that flout convention, Vegan, Gay and Rastafarians;
They all will be considered by inquiring Unitarians!

Hosea Ballou and Hank Thoreau and Humanists preached caring deeds
Salvation’s not in dogma nor in introspective, narrow creeds.
Mss. Oliver and Sarton may be muse for Peter’s ponderings
[ponderings? Ponderings?]
Which summon his beloved flock from all their sundry wanderings

Chorus:
He summons his beloved flock from all their sundry wanderings,
He summons his beloved flock from all their sundry wanderings
He summons his beloved flock from all their sundry wander-wanderings.

And Joan inspires our consciences to remedy all social ills
Like homelessness and bigotry and poverty and sweatshop mills
In liberal theology, ideas non-sectarian
I am the very model of a modern Unitarian

Chorus:
In liberal theology in matters nonsectarian
He is the very model of a modern Unitarian

Bob Kechley has ability in music versatility
The choir can make the welkin ring with contrapuntal harmony
Palestrina or nouveau, theirs is the music of the spheres,
Their offerings elicit cheers, then they go out for several beers.

Religious Education spurs our youth to find maturity
The youth explore conservative and liberal philosophy
They’ll come to lead our crowded world with flying banners all unfurled
To co-exist, love one and all, they’ll tell us all that peas are
whirled

Chorus:
They’ll tell us all that peas are whirled
They’ll tell us all that peas are whirled
They’ll tell us all that peas are whirley-whirled!

I’ve seen the temple, church and mosque and several kinds
of synagogue
A wide variety of sects, both digital and analog
Nietzshe and the Fall of Man, I’ve read the Gitas and Koran
And still when all is said and done, I am a Unitarian

Chorus:
And still, when all is said and done, he is a Unitarian.

Limericks

2009-07-18T14:29:00.001-07:00

A decrepit old gas man named Peter
Went looking for leaks in the heater.
He struck up a light,
And vanished from sight,
And as anyone who knows anything about poetry will tell you,
he also ruined the meter.
Thanks to daughter, Jody

Prof. Wally Sweet, researcher into classic sports:
When Greeks competed in sports
Such as discus or javelin darts
Their privates were free
For the public to see.
They wore neither jockstraps nor shorts!

Re: Dr. Waldo Sweet, again:
The professor had a propinquity
To teach the lore of antiquity.
He lectured the multitude
With an eye for young pulchritude
Wishing them there in ubiquity.

Re: Wrangler Club of Puget Sound:
The club is supposed to be tangling
With all sides of issues by wrangling.
Are we all of one mind,
The conservative kind?
Real issues are often left dangling.

The media:
An evangelist cried: “Jesus Saves!”
In a sermon on radio waves;
Send money as well
Or you’ll all go to Hell!”
He shouted in one of his raves!

Political incorrectness:
A CEO “suit” named Jule
Eyed a steno who came from the pool.
He proposed an affaire;
She replied: “Don’t you dare!”
He was fired for harassment, the fool!

Columnist Joel Connelly opposes “Death with Dignity”:
Connelly’s priest said: “Now, Joel,
If you’re bent on preserving your soul,
You’ll write and you’ll strive
To keep folks alive;
No matter THEIR wish; that’s your goal.”

PT 109:
J FK skippered a boat
But he couldn’t keep it afloat.
A destroyer attack
Got the better of Jack.
It sure got the admiral’s goat.

My granddaughter:
A lovely young woman named Molly
Was pricked on the finger by holly
When making a wreath;
And working with heath
Would sure be an unpleasant folly.

For our sons and grandsons:
Seasonal greetings and joys
From us to all of our boys
Whose hobbies are cars
And they’re rarely in bars.
They prefer electronical toys.

Our older daughter:
For Jody, our family’s jotter,
Calliope’s the muse that has got her.
Polyphemia too,
For music she’ll woo.
Three cheers for our talented daughter!

Repeal the Second Amendment

2009-07-18T14:21:00.000-07:00

REPEAL THE SECOND AMENDMENT

The Second Amendment was written at a time when Americans supplemented their diet with game. In colonial times settlers were at risk from Indians, the French and others. For defense the colonies organized "well-regulated militias" which were called up by governments when there was a need. Many of the soldiers in the American Revolution were militiamen . Their employment in the rebellion against their colonial masters, the British, has been cited as defense of the individual against "Big Government" and "Tyranny." Since then, democracy has become well established in our republic and the chance of a tyrant rising to power is remote. The "tyranny of the majority," of concern to some, is addressed in the Constitution and the other sections of the Bill of Rights. Subject to the interpretations of the Constitution, the Congress may enact legislation to meet emerging needs. Where the constitution does not reserve jurisdiction to the federal government, state and local government has the governing power. The Second Amendment has become as obsolete as the Eighteenth (Prohibition) and should be repealed (as in the Twenty-first). Repealing the Second Amendment and nullifying the recent Supreme Court decision will permit state and local governments to enact reasonable firearms legislation according to the wishes of voters in each community. Sporting use will be allowed and regulated, military weaponry can be restricted to government "well-regulated" armed forces and law enforcement agencies, possession of firearms by felons and mentally ill persons controlled. The Congress can address the interstate commerce in firearms and regulate their use in national parks and on federal lands. 70% of the Americans are dissatisfied with the level of firearm violence in this country. Will they join in political union to do something about it?

Battles in Iron Bottom Sound

2009-07-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

While in training at Motor Torpedo Boat Squadrons Training Center in Melville, RI, in 1945 I was required to read action reports of PT battles in all theaters of war. The reports from the Guadalcanal campaign were accounts of derring-do against impossible odds. The actions of a few PT boats saved the campaign for the conquest of the island and the turn of the Pacific war to our favor.
Naval resources in the Pacific were limited in 1942. Capital ships were limited in number and used selectively with caution against further losses. Carriers were few and precious. The Japanese were masters of torpedo warfare, night engagement and used of weather concealment. The bombardment and invasion of Guadalcanal surprised the Japanese and they immediately began to reinforce their land forces with night runs from bases to the north down "The Slot" between islands in the Solomon archipelago.
During the four capital ship battles the US and Aussies lost 25 warships, mostly cruisers and destroyers. The Japanese lost 14 including two old battleships. These battles were: Savo Island 9 Aug 1942, Cape Esperance 11-12 Oct 1942, of Guadalcanal 13-15 Nov 1942 and Tassafaronga 30 Nov 1942.
Japanese attempts to reinforce their land army were unrelenting, nearly nightly runs with transports or destroyer transports, and submarines. Obscure in the US naval accounts are the nightly patrols of PT boats. Four 77 foot Elco boats (pictured) were deployed early, four more in October and another four in November. The action reports describe melees with PTs firing torpedoes, dodging behind smoke screens, running through the Japnaese formations at 40 knots,spraying the decks and searchlights with their limited armament of 50 caliber machineguns. The reinforcment was interdicted because the transports were afraid to lie to to disembark troops. They took to forcing the soldiers to jump overboard to swim to shore while the ship was still underway.
Torpedo hits by PTs were very few but the Japanese did not realize that US torpedoes and tactics were far behind their own. The presence of the PT patrols intimidated the "Tokyo Express" and, I believe, saved the Guadalcanal campaign.
5 PTs were lost to enemy gunfire in the defence of the landings.

the armchair sailor

2009-07-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

A big event for an armchair admiral: my daughter arranged with her friend for a visit to the Pacific Maritime Institute which trains seamen for advancement. There are mockups of the bridge of a tugboat and of a large bulk carrier and simulations of various harbors around the world. With family members, we "cruised" Sydney Harbor, Australia. Then the instructor turned over the bridge of a ship at the Seattle grain terminal for yours truly to undock and take the ship out of the harbor. The simulated scene was very realistic. There was intercom with the deck crew and with a tug. With a son at the helm and a grandson at the engine controls, I got to play pilot. Undocking went smoothly and then the instructor's fun began. A destroyer raced by at speed; then a submarine surfaced close ahead. "Hard left rudder! All back full! (I forgot '4 short blasts' and 'collision quarters!") Too late, a a flame and smoke erupted under the bow, oil coated the water and debris and survivors appeared in the sea. At that, I cried: "uncle." Daughter reports fiendish laughter from the instructor.